From third party intervention into court cases to circulating mis-information, the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters (the OFAH) is a consistent opponent of First Nations' hunting and fishing rights. The OFAH, an organization with over 74,000 members and 480 member clubs, has mobilized a massive lobby against the recognition of Aboriginal rights in Ontario.
By using the rhetoric of conservation and equality, the OFAH has undermined negotiations between the provincial government and First Nations to implement co-management agreements. Since the Progressive Conservative party was elected in June 1995, the OFAH has increased its influence within the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources which has given them leverage to promote their anti-native agenda.
This agenda contributes to a hostile atmosphere that promotes anti-Native violence. This was most clearly shown around the area of the Bruce peninsula. Some incidents include the ramming, sinking and burning of a Nawash fishing boat on September 3, 1995. That same night three Nawash youths were stabbed in Owen Sound. All that summer Nawash fishing nets were cut loose and stolen. No charges were ever laid in the damage to property.
In February, 1992, Mike Harris, then the leader of the PC party, along with Rick Morgan, executive member of OFAH, were speakers at an Emergency Public Meeting hosted by the Pembroke Outdoor Sportsman's Club. The topic of the meeting was "Come out and hear of the Ontario NDP Government Agenda to turn over management and control of many of your natural resources to the Natives of Ontario."
At this meeting, Harris said that "Native control of the resources is politically motivated and it is a bad move."
When the NDP was in power in Ontario, OFAH conducted a massive public "awareness" campaign against the government's policy on Aboriginal hunting and fishing rights. This involved networking with other right wing organizations such as the Movement Against Political Affiliation (MAPA). MAPA, an organization based in local unions, pushed to have union locals stop funding the NDP. OFAH and MAPA draw their support from the same base. The PC party's approach caters to the political agendas of these groups.
One clear example of this is the support that Bill Murdoch, Tory MPP for Owen Sound, has given to the Grey/Bruce sportsmen's rhetoric against Native commercial fishing in the Bruce Peninsula. Murdoch was part of a group of 75 angry anglers and sport hunters who harassed a woman from Nawash First Nation who was selling fish on August 5, 1995. She was selling fish at the local farmer's market with her children. The group insulted and threatened her and threw a bucket of rotting fish guts at her. Murdoch defended his actions as an expression of his opinion.
Another anti-native right wing group which is promoting OFAH literature is the Ontario Foundation for Individual Rights and Equality (ON-FIRE). At ON-FIRE's most recent Annual General Meeting in April, 1997, they were circulating information compiled by OFAH on Native land claims in Ontario. At a meeting in August, 1997, ON-FIRE members heard from Blake Smith, a prominent OFAH member from Owen sound and a former manager with the MNR.
As if this long standing relationship with the MNR wasn't enough, it got worse in June of 1995. Immediately after the election of Mike Harris as Premier of Ontario and the appointment of Chris Hodgson as the Minister of Natural Resources, the MNR adopted an anti-Native agenda disturbingly similar to OFAH's. In fact, both Harris and Hodgson have been long standing OFAH members. Bill Murdoch (see above) was Hodgson's parliamentary aid until he was demoted in the early summer of 1997.
On August 31, 1995 the MNR suspended the Community Conservation Harvest Agreement (CCHA) which was negotiated between the provincial government and the seven First Nations of the Williams Treaty. The CCHA was signed with the NDP in February of 1995.
In response to the unilateral suspension, the people of Hiawatha First Nation set up a blockade at the gates of Serpent Mounds Provincial Park. A statement released by the Hiawatha First Nation at the time stated that "this cancelation [of the Community Harvest Agreement] by the provincial government was done without consultation with any of the seven First Nations who signed the agreement... A lot of non-Natives are under the impression that our hunting and fishing rights are a 'special privilege' granted to us by the government, when in fact it is our inherent right to hunt and fish in our treaty area."
Not only is the MNR following the OFAH agenda, the MNR is promoting OFAH as a primary partner in resource management at the expense of First Nations.
Shortly after the suspension of the Community Harvest Agreement, OFAH material -- including an OFAH membership form -- was included in a September, 1995, MNR mailing to over 900,000 anglers and hunters in Ontario. The MNR received $70,000 from OFAH (a bargain at 13 cents per letter). The total real mailing cost, at 45 cents per letter, would have been $450,000. The inclusion of OFAH information in the MNR mailing amounts to a $380,000 subsidy to an organization whose mandate is to lobby the MNR.
An indication that OFAH is expanding its power base was with the passing of the Omnibus Bill in the spring of 1996. This highly controversial bill included a number of sections which OFAH had lobbied for for quite some time. In January, 1996, OFAH representative Terry Quinney made a presentation at the Peterborough public hearing on the Omnibus Bill. The OFAH presentation included support for the creation of a separate account in the consolidated Revenue Fund from license fees and fines paid by anglers and hunters (Schedule N). The account is now designated for natural resource management. Previously, the money (typically more than $40 million) went into general revenues. To decide how this money is spent, the Omnibus Bill set up an "advisory committee" made up of "people with an interest in the commercial and recreational use of fish and wildlife resources." The committee, called the "Fish and Wildlife Advisory Board" will determine how this money should be spent. Members are made up of sportsmen (mainly OFAH and Ducks Unlimited members), and include Phil Morlock, who is the national marketing director of Shimano Canada (a major contributor to the OFAH), Charles Alexander, past president of OFAH, Gary Ball (of Peterborough), past editor of the magazine Angler and Hunter while it was an OFAH publication and Sandi Johnson, wife of Davison Ankney (past president of OFAH). This from a government that said it wouldn't be influenced by special interest groups.
OFAH's definition of equality is that all people should be treated the same. They have stated that "All people, regardless of race, should be subject to the same laws." This assumes that all people have equal opportunities within Canadian society. Judge Murray Sinclair of the Manitoba Aboriginal Justice Inquiry discussed the issue of equality within institutions: "Systemic discrimination involves the concept that the application of uniform standards, common rules and treatment of people who are not the same constitutes a form of discrimination. It means that in treating unlike people alike, adverse consequences, hardship or injustice may result."
Although OFAH vigorously denies allegations of racism, Gary Ball, past editor of Angler and Hunter (then the publication of OFAH) generalized First Nations communities as "dysfunctional" and "in shambles" in 1992.
David Ankney, a past president of OFAH, has publicly stated that non-Natives also hunt and fish for cultural and spiritual reasons. By feigning equality and ignoring difference, Ankney is furthering the OFAH stance that race and culture are irrelevant to discussions of conservation and management. This attitude both appropriates and trivializes Native spirituality. Further, this argument denies the intrinsic nature of First Nations spirituality in Aboriginal hunting and fishing rights.
For example, the Nawash fishers take only one percent of what the non-Native commercial fishery takes from Georgian Bay and Lake Huron. In 1993, the estimated value of the Native fishery (one licence, shared by 12 families, covering only a fraction of the traditional territory) is $20,000. The total value of the non-Native commercial fishery in this region was over $3 million.
The MNR's management plans, and those advocated by OFAH itself, have harmful consequences. The best example of mismanagement is the stocking of waters with hatchery fish for sports fishing. One study conducted found that stocking with hatchery fish is extremely dangerous. It was found that stocking Pacific salmon in the great lakes devastated the food fish population, and disrupted the entire lakes eco-system.
Further, the common method of using hatchery fish actually takes diseases into the wild, ones wild fish have no defence against. The hatchery gene pool can interfere with natural reproductive be haviour, causing a dependence of stocking with more hatchery fish.
Dr. Stephen Crawford, a biologist at the University of Guelph, is critical of the MNR's Lake Huron Management Unit because stocking pacific salmon in Lake Huron is damaging the ecosystem. Crawford also noted that the MNR is violating it's own protocols by allowing sportsmen's clubs to introduce salmon to the waters around the Bruce Peninsula.
Perhaps the most ridiculous fish stocked by the MNR is the splake, or the 'donkey fish.' This fish is reproductively challenged and is pushing out the native whitefish population. At the OFAH annual conference in Sudbury in February, 1997, it was stated that the MNR planned to spend more on the hatchery programs. This confirms that the OFAH's agenda continues to be concealed behind the front of conservation.
The Chippewas of Nawash have proposed a co-management plan that would give the First Nation a greater say in assessment and management of the resources. Many First Nations have proposed similar forms of co-management and such agreements have worked in Wisconsin and Michigan, amongst other places.
Even the C.D. Howe Institute, a right-wing think tank, agrees. In a report they issued, entitled Market Solutions to Native Poverty, they concluded that First Nations should assume a greater management role of resources. OFAH is strongly opposed to such co-management agreements. Mike Harris came through on his election promises to the OFAH and promptly cancelled all co-management negotiations and plans with First Nations underway across Ontario.
Sparrow, 1990: This unanimous Supreme Court decision [S.I.S.I.S.: frequently used *against* native sovereigntists] involved Reginald Sparrow of the Musqueam Band in British Columbia, who was charged for fishing with a drift net longer than the band's food fishing license allowed. He defended himself based on his existing Aboriginal right. The court decided that existing Aboriginal right should be allowed to evolve over time, and be defined with flexibility. The court found that laws of general application are not sufficient to extinguish an Aboriginal right, i.e. fishing regulations cannot extinguish that right. The court also suggested a generous interpretation of treaties, rather than the narrow definition offered by OFAH.OFAH has authored a document in 1994 titled Status Report on Native Land Claims in Ontario. This report details all the land claims in Ontario and encourages OFAH members to actively resist the settlement of these claims. It offers government contacts, and tips to fight Aboriginal rights. The impact of OFAH's involvement in such court cases has resulted in governmental policies that deny Aboriginal treaty rights.The court set priorities concerning hunting and fishing as follows: "(i) Conservation; (ii) Indian fishing; (iii) non-Indian commercial fishing; or (iv) non-Indian sports fishing; the burden of conservation should not fall primarily upon the Indian fishery." While this case was considered to be a victory by supporters of Aboriginal rights, OFAH holds an entirely different interpretation of the case. They feel that conservation should have been defined by the Crown, and that they should have been involved in discussions which detailed a suitable policy, including definitions of First Nations food needs. OFAH feels that misinterpretation of the case has "created a two-tiered legal system under resource management laws based on race."
Jones, 1993: This case involved members of the Chippewas of Nawash, charged with illegal fishing, contrary to the Ontario Fishery Regulations. The defendants argued that the band's license "constituted an unjustified interference with the exercise of its constitutionally protected aboriginal or treaty right to engage in commercial fishing." All of the defendants were acquitted as the court found that the defendants did have an Aboriginal right to fish commercially and that the restrictions were unconstitutional.
Howard, 1994: OFAH spent $144,000 lobbying for a guilty verdict in the Howard case, involving George Howard of Hiawatha First Nation. OFAH gained intervenor status in the case, submitting 'evidence' in favour of the extinguishment of Aboriginal hunting and fishing rights, because George Howard was subject to the Williams Treaty. OFAH suggested that Howard's rights were extinguished with the signing of the treaty. However, page 219 of the minutes to the Williams Treaty stated that "it was not intended that the fish and game rights were to be excluded or that they were to be deprived as the privileges of hunting and fishing, as it is the course of their living and sustenance. These provisions were to hold good as long as the grass grows, and the water runs."
This failure to recognize First Nations jurisdiction over their territories has created a conflict over resource-based management between the provincial government and First Nations in Ontario. The special interests of the Ontario Federation Anglers and Hunters have had a serious negative impact on the nation to nation negotiations concerning Aboriginal hunting and fishing rights which are a cornerstone of First Nation self-determination.
Anti-Colonial Action Alliance
#25, 197 Hunter St. W.
Peterborough ON
K9H 2L1
Email: thassan@trentu.ca
WWW: http://www.kawartha.net/~bmc/acaa